Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender Details Its Connection to the Original Series
The new live-action take on Aang and the gang's showrunner discusses its connection to its source material.
Netflix saw serious success when it came to the live-action adaptation of One Piece, and fans of Aang and his fellow benders are hoping for the same when it comes to their take on Avatar: The Last Airbender. Set to arrive on the streaming service on February 22nd of next year, showrunner Albert Kim recently had the opportunity to talk about the long-awaited series. During the talk, Kim takes the opportunity to hash out the elements of the original series that will be present in the live-action series.
Avatar: The Last Airbender fans appear to have a bright future ahead of them, not only thanks to Netflix's new series, but also thanks to Avatar Studios. In 2025, the first of three animated movies are slated to arrive in theaters that will weave new stories in the bending universe. With the first exploring the lives of Aang and his friends as adults, following the conclusion of the original series, there's plenty of story to tell when it comes to that time period.
Avatar x Avatar
Albert Kim touched upon how the influence of the original series creators, Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, can still be felt in the live-action adaptation, "It ran the range of really nerdy little things that no one except for diehard fans might wonder about — questions about Katara's mom or Aang's parentage — to bigger picture stuff about how to translate what made the original so special into a live-action version."
Kim also takes the opportunity to clarify that this is still the same story, but with a few tweaks along the way, "This is Avatar: The Last Airbender, but it is our version of Avatar: The Last Airbender." The showrunner also clarified that the beginning of the live-action take will begin a little differently from its animated predecessor. "We don't start the show the way the animated series starts. That was a conscious decision to show people this is not the animated series. We had to sometimes unravel storylines and remix them in a new way to make sense for a serialized drama, so I'm very curious to see what'll happen in terms of reaction to that."
Do you think the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender will live up to the original series? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of bending.